Marble Gardens

by Deirdre Purcell

Sophie and Riba have known each other since childhood. Though they couldn't be more different - Sophie is elegant and diffident, while Riba is flamboyantly extrovert - the bond between them seems unbreakable. Then Riba's teenaged daughter Zelda falls gravely ill. Frustrated by the limitations of conventional medicine, Riba pins all her hopes on alternative methods. Sophie is torn between her loyalty to her friend and her fear that Zelda, whom she loves like the child she cannot have, will not get the help she desperately needs. United in their distress, Sophie and Riba's husband Brian find themselves drawn to each other. Time is running out for Zelda, for two marriages, and for a friendship...

Genres: Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Deirdre Purcell (1945–2023) was an Irish author, actress, and journalist.

Reviews

[Mary Lou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Deirdre Purcell has a good story going in Marble Gardens. Sophie and Riba, friends from schooldays, are married to Michael and Brian respectively. Quiet, elegant Sophie is childless while bohemian, extrovert Riba has turned to alternative medicine in desperation to help her gravely ill daughter.
Well written as always and while to is easy to appreciate the difficulties they find themselves in, it is difficult to like any of these characters, especially the men.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Initially I didn’t think that I was going to enjoy this book, as something happens early on that was pretty far fetched. However as the story progressed I warmed to the characters, and liked the story, which would make a great ‘Hallmark’ film. The ending leaves to our imagination what eventually happened.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this book and the characters somewhat engaging. However the story lulls a lot in places and you find yourself speed reading pages and actually you’ve not missed anything.
The ending is poor I feel and you don’t really know what will happen .

[Nicola Pithouse · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good story but left with far too many loose ends!!!

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kinda re-readiing. Not as good as I thought.

[Leen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Het is een pocketroman, een vlot leesbare hapklare brok lectuur, maar niet al te clichématig geschreven. Je krijgt de standpunten van alle hoofdpersonages, zodat je weet wat er in ieders hoofd omgaat. Het verhaal ontrolt zich systematisch zonder al te veel schokkende wendingen – behalve dan de plotse vliegtuigcrash die zéér onrealistisch overkwam – maar het einde stak een beetje tegen: ze reageerden zo volwassen, zo overdreven netjes en beleefd, ik zou het héél anders gedaan hebben als ik verliefd was hoor!

[Tiina · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a rather weird book. I couldn't really understand the behavior of the main character. This was one of those pastel colored stories with a weird twist. Not my kind of story.

[CLM · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 1/2 stars

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a nice beach read that took little effort to read, looking back though there wasn't really much happened in it.

[Catherine Dunne · Rating 3 out of 5]

that the baby girl of the family has cancer,parent are not to bothered of what he gets up to ... ,